The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) will be holding its next free training event for commercial and industrial refrigeration technicians in Poughkeepsie, New York, February 10–12, addressing a perceived knowledge gap among New York State technicians regarding CO2 (R744) refrigeration.
It will be NASRC’s 12th technician training event since launching them in April 2023 in Irwindale, California, and the first to be held in New York State. The Poughkeepsie event, which will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton, will focus on CO2 refrigeration, with some coverage of propane (R290) systems. It will be co-hosted by New Yorkers for Clean Power and the Cornell Cooperative Extension Smart Energy Choices – Mid-Hudson.
“What’s surprising about New York is that there’s a lot of CO2 systems but there are very few technicians who have actually worked on CO2,” said Danielle Wright, Executive Director of the NASRC, a nonprofit that aims to overcome obstacles to the adoption of natural refrigerants. “So we’re really focused on covering the basics and getting them that foundation.” New York State, which has some of the most aggressive HFC regulations in the U.S., recently withstood a legal challenge to those regulations.
The event will offer classroom and some hands-on sessions as well as an exhibit hall featuring natural refrigerant products and services. Topics include everything from CO2 oil management and compressor troubleshooting to adiabatic cooling and rack start-up.
Trainers will come from the following organizations: Hillphoenix, Copeland, Energy Recovery, Bitzer, Parker Hannifin/Sporlan, Carel, Kysor Warren, BAC, FLō, Dorin, Mueller Streamline, Zero Zone; Future Green Now, NASRC and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. Copeland plans to bring its mobile CO2 unit while Baltimore Aircoil (BAC) will showcase its Trillium condenser. In addition, Bitzer and Dorin will demonstrate compressor tear-down.
“What’s surprising about New York is that there’s a lot of CO2 systems but there are very few technicians who have actually worked on CO2.”
Danielle Wright, Executive Director of the NASRC
The final day, February 12, will feature a morning workshop with NASRC Trainer Rusty Walker on remodeling with CO2 booster systems. This course will provide practical methods for converting an operating store from an HFC rack system to a CO2 system with minimal disruption.
In addition, on February 11 HVAC&R trade school students and faculty can attend a free career fair with employers from the refrigeration industry. Participants will learn about career opportunities, connect with industry employers and gain exposure to the latest refrigeration technologies. “These students often get pushed towards the HVAC side, so we’re trying to get them more focused and tuned into the refrigeration side and give them an introduction to what a career in refrigeration would be like,” said Wright.
R-TRADE program
In 2024 the NASRC formalized its training program with the launch of R-TRADE (refrigeration technician recruitment, advancement, development and education) with seed funding from five major stakeholders in the U.S. grocery retail sector: Albertsons, Amazon, Costco, Kroger and Walmart. The NASRC describes R-TRADE as a nationwide workforce development program with the goal of training more than 14,000 refrigeration technicians. Last year the nonprofit added the R-TRADE Supporters program, which enables organizations to contribute funding directly to the training initiative without becoming a member of the NASRC.
The NASRC will be hosting its next training events in St. Louis and San Antonio in March and Irwindale in April. Wright noted that the St Louis event will offer the first industrial track and in Irwindale, NASRC will offer a CO2-remote-condensing-unit showcase. The latter event will be geared “just as much towards end users as technicians because we want the end users to come in see these new products and get interested in using them,” she said.
“Every event evolves as we learn something new,” said Wright. “For instance, the very first event didn’t have any hands-on component and now we’re incorporating that more and more. We always tinker with the format and the length of the presentations, trying to balance getting as many sessions in as possible with making sure that technicians can actually attend all the sessions that they want to attend.”
The NASRC’s training program aims to overcome a perennial challenge in the natural refrigerants industry – developing enough technicians knowledgeable in natural refrigerant technologies. A confident, well-trained technician workforce “is the foundation for a successful transition” to natural refrigerants, wrote Morgan Vanzo, Senior Director of the NASRC, in an expert opinion piece last year.
“When technicians have the expertise to install, maintain and service the full range of natural refrigerant systems, the industry gains the capacity to move forward quickly and effectively,” added Vanzo. “These skills drive measurable benefits, like enhanced system performance, improved service reliability and reduced operational costs, while securing compliance and positioning businesses for long-term success.”
ATMOsphere, publisher of NaturalRefrigerants.com, will be holding its 2026 ATMOsphere America conference on natural refrigerants in Tarrytown, N.Y., just north of New York City, June 2–3.
